Brendan Morrison held a conference call with the media an hour ago and here are some of his comments about signing with the Capitals (one year, $1.5 million) today.
*On why the Capitals were attractive: “I talked to probably a handful of teams (4-6), but I got contacted from Washington pretty early in the free agency period and it was a team I wanted to be a part of. I think they’re a team right on the cusp of having some really good playoff success and I like their makeup as far as their style of play and their offensive style with a lot of gifted forwards up front. They’re a gifted team that can skate.”
*On his 2007-08 knee injury impacting him in 2008-09: “As much as you don’t want to believe that — I felt good and thought I was healhty — my legs didn’t come around until the three-quarters mark of the season. My skating as been my asset and it was extremely frustrating. I felt the last 20 games of the year, my legs were starting to come back and I started to produce more.”
*On signing a one-year deal: “To be frank, the one-year deal is the best offer for me, too. This is a big year for me personally and obviously for the team. The last couple years haven’t been very productive.”
The signing is pretty low risk on the Capitals part. If Morrison is healthy and productive, he will be a good second-line center for Alexander Semin and a winger-to-be-determined (Tomas Fleischmann perhaps?). If Morrison, who turns 34 next month, doesn’t have it anymore, then it will fall on Brooks Laich or, gasp, Michael Nylander to fill the pivot role behind the top line of Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Mike Knuble.
More on Morrison online tomorrow.
— Ryan O’Halloran
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